So, I am a comic book artist working on a science fiction comic book and I need help. I want to kind of base my space ships design on the VASIMR system but need help in understand how it actually works. I am a physicist and studying engineering so I have kind of an idea. But what I really want to know if the VASIMR propulsion system design can be changed for different space craft designing or if the system has to be built the way it is designed for it to actually work.

So, I am a comic book artist working on a science fiction comic book and I need help. I want to kind of base my space ships design on the VASIMR system but need help in understand how it actually works. I am a physicist and studying engineering so I have kind of an idea. But what I really want to know if the VASIMR propulsion system design can be changed for different space craft designing or if the system has to be built the way it is designed for it to actually work.

L. MonroyMonroyARTmonroyart.net

You might also be interested in these two threads from a year ago on solar electric propulsion.

I believe some people were posting artwork there too and asking the community about technical details.

VASIMR is only one of many concepts, it just happens to have gotten a lot of press and currently the VX-200 is the biggest electric thruster available. This may change in the near future since Hall effect thrusters have become a lot better, and new options such as electrodeless lorentz force thrusters could eventually become better than VASIMR in every way.

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For a variable Isp spacecraft running at constant power and constant acceleration, the mass ratio is linear in delta-v. Δv = ve0(MR-1). Or equivalently: Δv = vef PMF. Also, this is energy-optimal for a fixed delta-v and mass ratio.

Although some of the newer SEP systems can be technically superior, AdAstra are the only people currently working on producing a space-worthy high-power thruster.

Ironically, the Asteroid Redirect mission looks like it is going to be cancelled, largely due to having 'not enough to do with going to Mars'. This is a big shame as it would have given us a space-worthy high power SEP system, which is widely regarded as a vital puzzle piece for manned travel around the solar system. Because they want to concentrate on 'Going straight to Mars' (which at this point has no mission planned or direct funding) we are now back to looking at power point presentations and research papers rather than building flight hardware. Sigh.

And because VASIMR is an overly complicated way of doing electric propulsion (needs superconducting magnetic coils, which are expensive to keep cool) and really isn't viable at commercial commsat scale.

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Chris Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Government shall plan missions to accommodate the space transportation services capabilities of United States commercial providers. US law http://goo.gl/YZYNt0

But did Ad Astra get more funding from N.A.S.A for V.A.S.I.M.R? I read many articles saying that Ad Astra got more funding to go towards V.A.S.I.M.R or was that not enough or are the articles false? I also do know that Ad Astra has other projects they are working on.

But did Ad Astra get more funding from N.A.S.A for V.A.S.I.M.R? I read many articles saying that Ad Astra got more funding to go towards V.A.S.I.M.R or was that not enough or are the articles false? I also do know that Ad Astra has other projects they are working on.

And because VASIMR is an overly complicated way of doing electric propulsion (needs superconducting magnetic coils, which are expensive to keep cool) and really isn't viable at commercial commsat scale.

Which is why the CAT thruster that will be flying on a cubesat demo is interesting, since it is principally the same, just using a comparatively large permanent magnet (which is feasible at this scale, but probably unattractive at larger scales, hence VASIMR's superconducting magnets).

But did Ad Astra get more funding from N.A.S.A for V.A.S.I.M.R? I read many articles saying that Ad Astra got more funding to go towards V.A.S.I.M.R or was that not enough or are the articles false? I also do know that Ad Astra has other projects they are working on.

This week, Ad Astra reported that it remains on target toward that goal. The company completed a successful performance review with NASA after its second year of the contract, and it has now fired the engine for a total of 10 hours while making significant modifications to its large vacuum chamber to handle the thermal load produced by the rocket engine.

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When Ars visited the company early in 2017, the company was pulsing its rocket for about 30 seconds at a time. Now, the company is firing VASIMR for about five minutes at a time, founder Franklin Chang-Diaz told Ars. "The limitation right now is moisture outgassing from all the new hardware in both the rocket and the vacuum chamber," he said. "This overwhelms the pumps, so there is a lot of conditioning that has to be done little by little."

1. Will this mean HETs will be able to produce velocities of over 100,000 miles per hour soon? (assuming the high end of the efficiency increase of this new design plus the articles assertion that current hall effect thrusters can produce velocities of about 70K miles per hour.)

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Plasma ejected from the exhaust end of the thruster can deliver great speeds, typically around 70,000 mph.

and

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In particular, the specific impulse of the thruster increased by 1.1 to 53.5 percent when the discharge voltage was in the range of 100 to 200 Volts.

53.5 X 70,000=37450

37,450+70,000=107,450

2. probably, -similar refinements in VASIMR design could probably increase it's efficiency too. after all refinement of modeling of magnetic nozzles resulted in an more than doubling of the max theoretical velocity of Antimatter engines and this translated into advancements of other propulsion sustems that used magnetic nozzles.